Category: Tech

Technical Whiplash

Another computer resuscitation project with Q4OS Linux is my 11-year-old Acer Aspire One netbook. I carried this little thing with me everywhere, until Windows XP went end-of-life. I’m sufficiently pleased with the results running Linux that I’ve ordered a new battery for $15, giving my long-idle netbook a new lease on useful life.

That picture of the Acer was taken with another piece of old tech, my LG flip phone. But soon there will be a significant improvement in the quality of my photos, because I’m about to leap into the technological present.

My first cellphone was 25 years ago, on the Cingular analog network, but until now I’ve never had a smartphone. That changed today when I added data to my Verizon plan and ordered a Google Pixel 4a.

Ex-XP PC

This post brought to you via Q4OS, a lightweight Linux distribution, running on the first laptop I ever bought. This Compaq Presario 2200 came from CompUSA more than 15 years ago. The last time I used it was probably ten years ago.

I could have installed Linux alongside Windows XP SP3, but I wiped the drive for a clean start. I first tried Lubuntu, but performance was terrible. Lubuntu failed to find the WiFi hardware, but I’m on WiFi now with Q4OS. Typing reminds me how good the action on laptop keyboards used to be. A fun little project.

Correction: I should have said “the first Windows laptop I ever bought.” My first home PC was a Panasonic DOS dual-floppy laptop with monochrome screen and CGA composite video output that could display on a regular TV.

Follow-up: I installed VLC Media Player and a region-free DVD plays fine, but other DVD’s cannot be opened. It seems a command line utility is needed to set region 1 for the DVD player.

Blog Trouble

Having technical difficulties again.

Error establishing a database connection
This either means that the username and password information in your wp-config.php file is incorrect or we can’t contact the database server at localhost. This could mean your host’s database server is down.

Bluehost must be doing something. I’ll wait to see how long this lasts before asking them what’s up.

Digging the Groove

One of the most familiar pieces in the traditional Classical music repertoire is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, the “Overplayed.” I’m up for listening to it again, thanks to this early stereo recording that should be heard with a decent pair of headphones to best appreciate its sonic splendor (with apologies to the hearing impaired).

And oh, by the way…

Another post that ticks three blog categories!

Colonel Klink’s Dad Conducts

This video features a Holy Grail record playing setup from the glory days of Hi-Fi. A Garrard 301 turntable and 12″ SME tonearm, both from England, and an Ortofon SPU cartridge from Denmark. The stone base is obviously new, as part of a restoration.

How much would this gear cost? The cartridge alone, the one component still in production, starts at $1000, so don’t ask. The record is from the year of my birth.